System, method, and apparatus for purchasing, dispensing, or sampling of products

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and apparatus for the purchase of and/or free sampling of products. The systems, methods, and/or apparatus may permit push notifications of purchased products and/or free product samples being available and may permit the use of mobile devices and/or mobile device applications to be used to purchase products or dispense free samples of products via a product dispenser or vending machine.

BACKGROUND

Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy in their product purchasingbehaviors. They use their smart phones to perform price comparisons.They select, at point of purchase, from several available options. Forexample, users may select from one of several different car washesavailable at a gasoline kiosk. And, when shopping for food or otherproducts, consumers frequently ask the seller to try a free sample ofthe food or other product, such as perfume, being sold or displayed.There exists an opportunity and need to provide consumers with a greaterrange of options when making their purchasing decisions.

The Coca-Cola Company currently markets and sells non-alcoholicbeverages through various outlets and dispensing and vending equipment.One such type of dispensing equipment is known as the Freestyle®dispensing machine, which permits customers to select from over onehundred different product and flavor combinations. Such dispensingmachines are often placed in fast food restaurants, convenience stores,malls, and other venues that tend to attract consumers. An example ofthe apparatus, processes, methods, and systems potentially associatedwith the Freestyle® dispensing machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.8,340,815, to Peters, et al., incorporated in its entirety by referenceherein.

Frequently, a consumer attempting to use a Freestyle® vending machinemay be uncertain as to which of the over one hundred offerings tochoose. This can lead to not only an unhappy consumer who may select anoffering that he or she does not enjoy, but also may lead to otherunhappy consumers waiting in line for such uncertain consumers to make aflavor selection.

The Coca-Cola Company currently provides a Freestyle® smart phoneapplication that may be directed at addressing this problem bypermitting consumers to pre-select on the application their favoriteflavor offerings. The application permits consumers to consult aselection of over one hundred choices, mix their own virtual flavors,and start adding favorite brands and mixes to the application user'sfavorites list. The application provides for push notifications, locatesFreestyle® machines in proximity to the application user, and offers a“Mobile App Sweepstakes.”

The Coca-Cola Company, and other entities that sell products, arecontinuously looking for new ways to market their products anddemonstrate their attributes relative to competitive products and toencourage consumers to try both existing and new product offerings.Moreover, given the well-publicized global obesity epidemic, companiesthat sell calorie containing products are working hard to offer lowercalorie options and to demonstrate to the consuming public, as well asgovernmental agencies, of their efforts in this regard.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the disclosure, there may be provided amethod comprising initiating a push notification offering a free productsampling, receiving a response to the push notification indicative of anacceptance of the offering, and authorizing the dispensing of the freeproduct sampling. The push notification may be provided via a mobiledevice application.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there may be provided aproduct dispenser configured to dispense one or more products, theproduct dispenser may be further configured to dispense a sample size ofthe one or more products. The product dispenser may further comprise auser interface configured to permit a customer to request a free samplefrom the product dispenser, and a product size discriminator configuredto discriminate between and dispense the one or more products accordingto whether a purchased product size or a sample product size has beenselected for dispensing.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there may be provided asystem comprising a product dispenser configured to dispense a purchasedproduct and a free sample of a product corresponding to the purchasedproduct; and a mobile application configured to receive pushnotifications offering to dispense free samples of product from thedispenser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic representation of systems, methods,and/or apparatus of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates operations that may be used for carrying out one ormore methods of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one aspect of the disclosure illustrated in FIG. 1, a system,generally 10, comprising a point of sale, generally 100, and adispensing area, generally 200, may be provided. The point of point ofsale 100 may, for example, include one or more of a counter 110, a cashregister 112, and a menu 114. Additionally or optionally, the point ofsale 100 may include a display 116, such as are commonly used inconnection with drive-through areas of fast food restaurants, gasstations, banks, and pharmacies, for example.

The dispensing area 200 may comprise one or more apparatus fordispensing products. For example the dispensing area 200 may comprise adispensing machine 210 such as a Freestyle® type beverage dispenser thatprovides Freestyle® type beverage products of The Coca-Cola Company.Such dispensing machine 210 may comprise a keypad, touchscreen, orgraphical user interface 215 configured to permit a consumer to makepurchasing decisions and/or product selections from the dispensing area200. Additionally or alternatively, the dispensing area 200 may comprisea vending machine, such as those used for vending packaged or unpackagedproducts, such as beverages in bottles or cans, toiletries, laundryproducts, pharmaceutical products, electronic products, golf balls atdriving ranges, coffee beans, and the like. As another example, thedispensing machine 210 may provide products such as Apple® smart phones,tablets, and related accessories sold by Apple Computer Company, orsoftware products such as those sold by Microsoft Corporation.

In one aspect of the disclosure, the point of point of sale 100 may bein communication with the dispensing area 200, either through a wired orwireless connection, generally 300. Indeed, the point of point of sale100 may be in close proximity or even comprise the dispensing area 200,as in the case of a vending machine. The connection 300 may permit thepoint of point of sale 100 to communicate information to the dispensingarea 200. Such information may, for example, include information that apurchase has been made, that the purchase, if made with a credit card,has been validated, and/or that a particular product has been selected.

One or more of the point of point of sale 100 and dispensing area 200may communicate with a handheld or mobile device, such as a consumer'ssmart phone, generally 400, e.g., via a wired or wireless connection 302between the point of sale 100 and the smart phone 400 (or other mobiledevice) and/or between the smart phone 400 and the dispensing area 200,via a wired or wireless connection 304. The smart phone 400 may includeone or more applications 410 that may be provided by or on behalf of amerchant, such as the owner of a restaurant, store, gas station, orother location in which a dispensing area is placed, or may be providedby the entity that markets or sells the products being dispensed, suchas The Coca-Cola Company in the case of a dispensing area 200 comprisinga Freestyle® dispensing machine 210, and the Freestyle smart phoneapplication, for example.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a consumer may register with a providerof products or services, such as The Coca-Cola Company, using theapplication 410. Such registration may be used to set up an account withthe provider, verify credit accounts, set limits on purchase amounts,etc. Such registration may further provide the consumer with permissionsto access the dispensing area, either by using credit accounts, by usingbank accounts, or by using a code or other identifier that may beprovided, for example, by the provider of products or services, by thesmart phone application provider, by the smart phone service provider,or at the point of purchase, for example, by the operator of therestaurant in which the point of point of sale 100 resides.

In another aspect of the disclosure, the dispensing area 200 maycomprise apparatus, systems, and/or components 220 configured to permita consumer to try a free sample of product. In the case of a Freestyle®dispensing machine 210, a free sample module 230 may be included withinthe dispensing machine 210. The free sample module 230 may include anarea, such as a virtual button 240 on the graphical user interface 215of the dispensing machine 210. The free sample module 230 may alsoinclude a dispenser for dispensing a free sample cup 260. The freesample cup 260 may be of a size that may hold a free sample that issignificantly less than a standard serving size, i.e., less than 8 fluidounces. In one aspect, the free sample cup 260 may hold one or two fluidounces or less. Unless used otherwise herein, the term “sample size”, inthe context of liquid beverage samples, is intended to mean a singleserving of less than about 8 fluid ounces (about 240 ml). In the case ofother liquid products, such as laundry detergent, the term “sample size”is intended to mean sufficient liquid to perform a single operation,such as washing a typical load of clothing. As another example, in thecase of contact lens solution, the term “sample size” is intended tomean several drops for one or two doses to enable application of thesolution to one or two contact lenses. As another example, in the caseof a cosmetic, perfume, or cologne sample, the term “sample size” isintended to mean a volume of cosmetic, perfume, or cologne roughlycorresponding to the volume contained in a commercially available samplevial, packet, or other container, i.e., generally sufficient quantityfor a single use.

In one aspect, it has been found that a sample size of about 2 fluidounces (about 30 ml) of a beverage may provide sufficient sampling for aconsumer to determine whether he or she wishes to dispense a full-sizedsingle serve drink. Consumers are accustomed to being accorded freesamples, for example, in supermarkets at the deli case, where suchsamples are provided in small disposable cups, sometimes with disposableforks or spoons. As with the supermarket example, a vendor or providerof other products, including liquid products such as beverages (bothalcoholic and non-alcoholic), liquid soap, liquid detergent, lotion(hand lotion, body lotion, etc.), perfume, mouthwash, contact lenssolution etc., may find it advantageous when promoting its products toprovide consumers with free samples such as described herein.

The system of the present disclosure may permit a consumer to access afree sample in a number of ways. For example, the consumer may purchasea beverage of unspecified type at the point of point of sale 100. Aftermaking the purchase, the consumer may receive a code, for example on thesales receipt, that the consumer may input at the dispensing machine 210in order to access one or more free samples. Alternatively, the consumermay have previously registered with the provider of products or servicesand created a password, for example, on a smart phone application, suchas application 410, giving the consumer access to make purchases via hisor her smart phone application. The same code or other type of accessauthorization may also grant the consumer authorization to select afull-size single serve beverage, or may grant the consumer authorizationto access a predetermined number of servings of predetermined size. Thecode, or other authorization, may be input in different ways. Forexample, the dispensing machine 210 may comprise a virtual keypad thatis part of the graphical user interface, or an actual keypad that ispart of the dispensing machine 210. Alternatively, as described above,the authorization may be achieved merely by the user inputting his orher password into a smart phone application, such as application 410,which grants wireless access to the dispensing machine 210.

As another example, the consumer may have on his or her smart phone anapplication 410 provided by the seller of products such as, for example,The Coca-Cola Company. This application may include a useridentification system that may recognize the user, based on a uniqueidentifier provided by the seller, by the application provider, by thesmart phone 400, or by a wireless service provider with whom theconsumer has an account. Such identification system may, for example,permit the uses to enter his or her unique password as part of theapplication log on process. After log on is completed, the application410 may, for example through wireless communication, instruct thedispensing machine 210 that the user has permission to dispense a freesample. Once permission has been granted, the consumer may be notified,i.e., via the graphical user interface on the dispensing machine 210,and/or on the smart phone 400 display, that permission has been grantedto pour a free sample from the dispensing machine 210. The sameidentification system may also be employed to purchase products and/ordispense purchased products from the dispensing machine 210.

The systems, apparatus, and methods of the present disclosure may alsobe employed with more traditional beverage dispensing equipment,sometimes known as “legacy” fountain dispensing equipment, such as thatused by outlets serving beverages marketed by PepsiCo. When used withlegacy equipment, such equipment may be retrofitted with wirelesscommunication components and portion control apparatus to enabledispensing of product as described herein.

In another aspect of the disclosure, the smart phone application mayinclude, for example, push notifications that alert the consumer to newofferings, such as new flavors being offered by the product provider.Such notifications may additionally, or alternatively, make free productsamples available for a limited time, at limited locations, forpredetermined brands or flavors, and/or in predetermined quantities, forexample.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a method of practicing anembodiment of the present disclosure. At operation 500, a notification,such as a push notification, may be initiated, for example, by a productseller, by a service provider, by an application provider, by a mobiledevice such as a smart phone, or by a wireless service provider withwhom a consumer has an account. This notification may be intended forone or more intended recipients, such as consumers, for example,advising them of a product or service offering and providing them anopportunity to accept a free sample of a product or a service.

At operation 502, the initiator of the notification may receive aresponse indicative of an acceptance of the offer, for example, from theone or more intended recipients. Such response may require the intendedrecipient(s) to register with the initiator of the notification, forexample, by joining or downloading the smart phone application 410 ontotheir smart phone 400. Such registration may also require the intendedrecipient(s) to provide customer information such as location,demographic information, product preferences, and/or provide paymentinformation such as a credit card number.

At operation 504, the initiator of the offer may authorize thedispensing of a free product sample or a free sample of a service. Suchauthorization operation may include receiving information from one ormore intended recipients indicative of the one or more intendedrecipients having joined or downloaded a mobile application, such asmobile application 410. Such authorization may include verifying thatthe intended recipient accepting the offer has registered with theinitiator of the offer, that the intended recipient has created anaccount capable of paying for a product or service corresponding to thesample product or service, or merely verifying that the intendedrecipient is in close proximity to the dispensing area 200.

In an alternative method, the free product or service may be authorizedfor dispensing at a point of sale 100. For example, if a customerpurchases products such as food items at a point of sale 100, he or shemay be given an offer to try a free sample of products, such asbeverages, at the dispensing area 200. Such offer may include a personalidentifier for the customer, such as a password or code that thecustomer may input, either wirelessly via a handheld device, or using atouch screen or touch pad associated with the dispensing machine 210.Alternatively, an operator at the point of sale 100 may instruct thedispensing machine 210, for example, via the wired or wirelessconnection 300, to permit the customer to dispense the free sample.

As another alternative, a customer may employ a mobile device, such as asmart phone 400 to place an order for a free product and/or a purchasedproduct via the wired or wireless connection 302 to the point of sale100. In this embodiment, the customer may or may not be responding to apush notification, rather, may initiate the communication that enablesthe dispensing of a free sample. In still another alternative, thecustomer may bypass the point of sale 100 entirely, for example, byusing a mobile device, such as a smart phone 400, to connect via thewired or wireless connection 304 directly with the dispensing machine210. As illustrated, the wired or wireless connections 300, 302, 304 maybe one-way or two-way connections.

At operation 506, information indicative that the free product samplinghas been dispensed may be received, for example, by the initiator of theoffer. Receipt of such information may be followed up with additionalpush notifications. For example, after the recipient has sampled thefree product sample, as evidenced by the information obtained atoperation 506, at operation 508 a query or second push may be initiated,for example by sending to the one or more intended recipients a queryasking if they would like to purchase the product corresponding to thesampled product. Additionally or alternatively at operation 508, thesecond query may ask for feedback, such as asking such recipients torate their experience in sampling the free product, for example,indicating on a scale of 1 to 10 how much they liked the product.Depending on the feedback received, for example, if the sample washighly rated, the intended recipient may be asked if he or she wouldlike to purchase the product corresponding to the free sample. On theother hand, if the sample was not highly rated, the intended recipientmay be offered one or more additional free product samplings.

Depending on the second push or query sent at operation 508, and theresponse received at operation 510, the dispensing of one or more freesamples and/or the dispensing of purchased product corresponding to thesampled product may be authorized. For example, if at operation 508 aresponse to the second push notification reveals negative feedbackrelative to the initial product sampling and/or that the intendedrecipient would like to sample one or more additional free samples, thenoperation 510 may authorize the dispensing of one or more additionalfree samples. In order to avoid an “endless loop” of negative feedbackby intended recipients merely trying to “game the system” by obtainingunlimited free product samples, a counter operation may be interposed,i.e., at operation 512, to cut off the opportunity for additional freesamples after a predetermined number, for example three free samples.Thus, operation 512 may count the number of requests for free samplesmade in response to the query operation 508 and if a predeterminednumber of free sample requests has not be met, may authorize thedispensing of additional free samples. Alternatively, if a predeterminednumber of free sample requests has been met, then operation 512 mayindicate that this is the case and end the free sample query.Alternatively, the counter operation 512 may be interposed prior to thequery operation 508 to indicate prior to the query being made that thepredetermined number of free samples has been dispensed, and end thefree sample offering.

As indicated, the query or second push operation 512 may ask theintended recipient to indicate if he or she is interested in purchasingthe product or service corresponding to the free sample. If anaffirmative indication is received, then the dispensing of the purchasedproduct or service may be authorized at operation 510.

The product dispensing machine, when used for dispensing liquid product,may be of the general configuration of The Coca-Cola Company Freestyle®dispensing machine, improved according to the teachings describedherein. As is well known, the Freestyle® dispensing machine storesbeverage concentrates, such as Coke®, Sprite®, and other beverageconcentrates and flavor concentrates, such as lemon, cherry, etc., inmultiple cartridges housed within the body of the machine. These variousconcentrates, as is also well known, are mixed and dispensed by theFreestyle® dispensing machine in microliter doses with carbonated waterto produce a finished beverage. In order to retain the desired flavorand quality profile of the concentrates, the cartridges may be chilledand/or periodically agitated by the machine. The Freestyle® vendingmachine is currently configured to pour a selected purchased beverageinto a customer's glass, cup, or other receptacle without discriminatingas to the size of the pour. Thus, a customer could currently pour aone-ounce, eight ounce, or thirty-two ounce serving of purchasedproduct, but cannot currently request a sample size of a free productsample or a purchased beverage of a predetermined size.

The Freestyle® dispensing machine may be modified, however, to limit thesize or quantity of the pour in response to the size of beverage beingpurchased and/or the size or quantity of a free sample to be dispensed.Such discrimination may be achieved using known portion controlapparatus and/or software configured to limit portion sizes. In thisway, a consumer might determine, due to calorie count of a caloricbeverage, that he or she only wishes to purchase a smaller than standardserving size, such as a six ounce serving, for example.

The Freestyle® dispensing machine may be further configured to offerand/or display the price of a beverage based on serving size. Forexample, a consumer might be permitted to order any size beverage inone-ounce increments, based on a price schedule that might offer avariable price per fluid ounce based on the volume selected. Given thecurrent obesity epidemic worldwide, but particularly in the UnitedStates, where the Freestyle® vending machine is most prominent,consumers may appreciate the option of buying only as much product asthey want at a Freestyle® dispenser, particularly in the case ofchildren, who often cannot finish a standard 8-ounce serving, and forwhom obesity concerns may be particularly acute.

A sample price schedule, which may be displayed by the Freestyle®vending machine on the user interface or touchscreen 215 might appear asset forth in the following example, termed for illustrative purposes as“Freestyle® Variserve™ Pricing:

Freestyle® Variserve™ Pricing

Serving Price Per Price Per Calories Per Size (Oz.) Oz. ($) Serving ($)Serving 1 0.20 0.20 12.5 2 0.20 0.40 25 3 0.20 0.60 37.5 4 0.1625 0.6550 5 0.014 0.70 62.5 6 0.133 0.80 75 7 0.129 0.90 87.5 8 0.125 1.00 100

The user interface may be configured to permit the consumer to selectthe serving size desired simply by pressing a touch screen section onthe graphical user interface 215 corresponding to the desired servingsize, i.e., as displayed on the Freestyle® Variserve™ Pricing menuillustrated above.

In another aspect of the disclosure, the seller of calorie containingproducts may, in order to encourage consumption of lower calorieofferings, and/or demonstrate to governmental organizations and/or thepublic generally their commitment to combatting the obesity epidemic,use the systems, methods, and/or apparatus disclosed herein to pricetheir products with variable pricing based on the caloric content of theproducts being dispensed, for example, pricing products at a fixed priceper calorie, or according to a pricing schedule that prices productbeing dispensed at a lower price per unit weight or volume for lowercalorie products relative to products that contain a greater number ofproducts per serving. Indeed, the variable price concept of the presentdisclosure may be used in combination with the portion control concept,creating a “double bonus” by offering even lower prices when both lowercalorie and lower serving size selections are made. Other combinationsare, of course possible.

Moms and people trying to control their weight by counting calorieswould benefit from being able to dispense food and beverage productsbased on the number of calories, such as one hundred calories' worth ofbeverage, nuts, seeds, yogurt, etc. Accordingly, another aspect of thedisclosure may employ the teachings herein to dispense a predeterminednumber of calories of food or beverage product, for example, at theconsumer's choosing. The dispensing apparatus may also be configured toprice the product thus dispensed according to the total number ofcalories dispensed, rather than the weight or volume of product beingdispensed.

A dispensing machine 210, such as a Freestyle® dispensing machine, maybe modified to allow pricing and sales based on caloric content of thebeverages offered. A price per calorie or additional surcharge percalorie may be established. In one embodiment, a discount or rebate isapplied for low-calorie or zero-calorie selections. The price percalorie may be set and updated based on, individually or in combination:geographic region, type of establishment the dispensing machine 210 islocated in, government regulation, third-party standards, owner/lesseepreference, etc. For example, a price per calorie for a dispensingmachine 210 located in a high school may be higher than the price percalorie for a dispensing machine 210 located in a fast-food restaurant.A user-customized beverage may vary in caloric content based on theparticular combination of beverages and/or flavorings used to create thecustom beverage. For example, a user may select on a Freestyle®dispensing machine to combine a zero-calorie cola with a high-caloriefruit flavoring. The quantity of the beverage may result modify theamount of calories in the beverage. In one embodiment, a user may makeselections for a beverage on the graphic user interface 215. A price perunit of volume, such as a fluid ounce, based on the caloric content ofthe selected beverage combination may then be calculated and displayedto the user on the graphic user interface 215. Additionally oralternatively to a price per unit volume, a total caloric content andprice may be displayed based on a predetermined receptacle size. Forexample, in one embodiment, receptacles of “small”, “medium”, and“large” sizes may be made available to a user where the dispensingmachine is located. A price based on the calories of the selectedbeverage may be based on the volumes of the receptacles provided and maybe displayed on the graphic user interface 215 in addition to or inplace of a price per fluid ounce. In one embodiment, the receptaclechosen may be detected and the price for the beverage based on the setsize of the receptacle communicated to the dispensing machine 210 andthe caloric content of the user-defined beverage.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a parental and/or governmentalcontrol feature may be employed. Many types of products, such asalcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals, birth control products, adultreading materials and videos and the like, and in some venues evencalorie-containing beverages, may not be legally sold to minors. Yet itmay be desirable for a seller of such products, referred to generallyherein as “adult products,” to be able to dispense them via a productdispenser or vending machine such as those described and referencedherein. Such sale of adult products might be accomplished, for example,by incorporating an age verification operation to verify that a consumerdispensing a product is old enough to purchase the product, such as inthe case of an alcoholic beverage, a calorie-containing beverage, or any“adult product” that might be dispensed, such as birth control products,adult reading materials, via a Freestyle® type dispenser, yogurtdispenser, vending machine, etc. Such age verification operation may,for example, include face recognition modules, fingerprintidentification technology, or any other known means of verifying theidentity and/or age of an individual.

While the above example illustrates a variable price per unit volume,i.e., fluid ounces, it should be readily appreciated that the productdispenser of the present disclosure may be configured to dispenseproduct by weight, by volume, or, in the case of solid products such aspharmaceuticals, by number of units, such as pills. Also, the variablepricing menu may be configured to vary the pricing per unit quantitybased on the type of product being dispensed. For example, in the caseof perfume, some brands may be more expensive per unit quantity thanother brands, but the dispenser may be configured to dispense bothhigher and lower cost perfumes with variable pricing based on quantitypurchased.

It should be here noted that variable pricing at a dispenser of productmay be used to encourage, or discourage, more or less consumption of aproduct. Thus, if the product being dispensed is gasoline, the dispensermay be configured to charge a higher price per gallon the greater thequantity of gasoline being purchased, for example, during a finitepurchasing operation by a single customer. Similarly, if the productbeing dispensed is an alcoholic beverage, the price per ounce ofalcoholic beverage being dispensed from the dispenser may be configuredto increase as greater volumes of beverage are purchased. Indeed, thedispenser may be configured to recognize a particular consumer hashaving purchased, during a finite time period, a quantity of alcoholthat approaches the legal limit for alcoholic consumption for an adultof typical weight. In such situations, the dispenser may be configuredto halt the sale or dispensing of alcohol to such consumer until apredetermined period of time has lapsed. Such dispenser might be ofparticular use at a bar or restaurant, where a server may not always beable to perceive the relative intoxication of a customer. Productdispensers, such as beer taps, in such establishments, may be configuredto record the quantity of alcoholic beverages, such as beer, beingpoured for a particular consumer. The product dispensers may beconfigured to track alcohol consumption using radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) chips embedded in each consumer's cup, mug, orglass that are coded for each individual customer. The dispenser mayinclude, for example, an RFID reader or other type of reader thatrecognizes and counts each pour of beer for a particular customer andhalts additional pours after a predetermined number of servings havebeen recorded.

The system may similarly be used to discourage overconsumption ofcaloric products, such as sugar-containing beverages. Thus, if thesystem detects that a particular consumer has, in a predetermined timeperiod, one hour for example, consumed an excessive number of calories,it may issue a warning to the consumer, either at the point of sale, thedispensing area, and/or via the consumer's handheld device, i.e., smartphone or tablet. Similarly, the system may be configured to disallowcontinued dispensing of purchased or free samples of product to aconsumer that has exceeded a predetermined quantity of product and/or apredetermined number of calories consumed.

In other contexts, of course, the dispenser may be configured, asillustrated above, to decrease the price per ounce as the volume beingpurchased increases, according to volume discount pricing protocolsemployed, for example, by volume discount establishments such asCostco®.

The system of the present disclosure may be configured to permit acustomer to communicate with the product dispensing machine 210, such asa Freestyle® machine, for example, using a smart phone 400 in place of,or in augmentation of, the touchscreen panel display 215 of thedispensing machine 210. Thus, the customer may, employing the systems,methods, and apparatus described herein, be able to request a custom mixof a beverage to sample as a free sample. Such enablement may beachievable with relatively inexpensive and/or commonly understoodsoftware upgrades to existing Freestyle® machine software and/or theFreestyle® mobile application 410.

The same technology employed in the existing Freestyle® machine todispense beverage products may be repurposed to dispense other liquidproducts, such as perfume, cologne, cosmetics, etc., either as freesamples and/or as purchased products per the disclosures containedherein. One particularly attractive use of the Freestyle® dispensingtechnology, given its micro-dosing capabilities, may be in the area ofsampling highly volatile and/or expensive liquids such as perfumes, assuch samples normally must be made in small quantities. Just asconsumers may mix their own blends of beverages using the Freestyle®vending machine, they may do the same, employing the teachings herein tomix, for example, their own blends of cosmetics, perfumes, colognes,etc.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: initiating a push notificationintended for a mobile application associated with a plurality ofintended recipients, the push notification offering a free productsampling intended to be dispensed from a product dispenser configured todispense both a sample size of the free product sampling and purchasedproducts corresponding to the free product sampling; receiving aresponse to the push notification indicative of an acceptance of theoffering, the acceptance generated by the mobile application; andauthorizing dispensing of the sample size of the free product samplingfrom the product dispenser.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving and authorizing is performed via a mobile application.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, the push notification further comprising offering thefree product sampling for one or more of a limited time, at limitedlocations, in a limited quantity, and in limited types of product. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the free product sampling comprises asample size of a product selected from the group consisting ofbeverages, liquid soap, liquid detergent, lotion, cosmetic, perfume,cologne, mouthwash, and contact lens solution.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the free product sampling comprises a sample dispensed through adispenser configured to dispense microliter doses of liquid, comprisinga keypad, touch screen, or graphical user interface enabling a userthereof to make product selections.
 6. The method of claim 4, whereinthe free product sampling comprises a sample dispensed through a legacyfountain beverage type dispenser.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein themobile application is accessible via a handheld device.
 8. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the authorizing comprises receiving information fromone or more intended recipients indicative of the one or more intendedrecipients having joined the mobile application.
 9. The method of claim1, further comprising initiating a second push notification.
 10. Themethod of claim 9 wherein the second push notification comprises one ormore of requesting feedback on the free product sampling, offering oneor more additional free product samplings, and offering to sell apurchased product corresponding to the free product sampling.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising receiving a response to thesecond push notification indicative of an acceptance of the offering oneor more additional free product samplings or offering to sell apurchased product corresponding to the free product sampling, andauthorizing the dispensing of the one or more free product samplings orof the purchased product.
 12. The method of claim 1 further includingthe steps of: requesting feedback from a user to whom the free productsampling has been dispensed, the feedback comprising a rating by theuser of the free product sampling; if the rating by the user satisfies apredetermined rating value, offering the user an opportunity to purchasea product corresponding to the free product sampling to be dispensedfrom the product dispenser; and if the rating by the user does notsatisfy a predetermined rating value, offering to dispense an additionalfree product sampling from the product dispenser.
 13. The method ofclaim 12 further including the steps of interposing a counter operationto count a number of free product dispenses and to disable further freeproduct dispenses after a predetermined count of free product dispenseshas been reached.
 14. A product dispenser configured to dispense,responsive to a request indicative of an acceptance, generated by amobile application, from a mobile device configured to receive pushnotifications intended for the mobile application associated with aplurality of intended recipients, the push notification offeringdispensing of free product samplings from the product dispenser to aplurality of intended recipients, a sample size of a free product; theproduct dispenser further comprising a product quantity discriminatorconfigured to discriminate between, and dispense the sample size of thefree product or a purchased product corresponding to the free productaccording to, whether a purchased product corresponding to the freeproduct or the sample size of the free product has been selected fordispensing, the product dispenser further configured to dispense thepurchased product, responsive to a request by a recipient of the freeproduct.
 15. The product dispenser of claim 14, wherein the productdispenser is configured to dispense variable sizes of purchased productand further comprises a user interface configured to permit a user torequest the product dispenser to dispense a predetermined caloriccontent of the purchased product from the product dispenser.
 16. Theproduct dispenser of claim 15, wherein the product dispenser isconfigured to offer a variable price for the purchased product beingdispensed based on caloric content of the purchased product beingdispensed.
 17. The product dispenser of claim 14, wherein the dispenseris further configured to determine the quantity of product that has beendispensed to a particular customer, and is further configured todiscontinue further dispensing of product for that particular customeronce the quantity of product dispensed to that customer has reached apredetermined limit.
 18. A system comprising: a product dispenser inwireless communication with a mobile device, the product dispenserconfigured to dispense, responsive to an instruction from the mobiledevice indicative of an acceptance, generated by a mobile application,of a push notification offer, a purchased product and a sample size of afree sample of a product corresponding to the purchased product, themobile device comprising the mobile application configured to receivepush notifications offering to dispense free samples of product from thedispenser, the system further configured to query a user of the mobiledevice, following dispensing of the free sample corresponding to thepurchased product from the product dispenser, if the user desires topurchase the purchased product, and to dispense, responsive to anaffirmative response to the query, the purchased product from theproduct dispenser.
 19. The system of claim 18, the product dispenserfurther comprising a product quantity discriminator configured todistinguish between and dispense both purchased product quantities andsample sizes of a free sample product corresponding to, but in smallerquantities than, the purchased product quantities.
 20. The system ofclaim 19, further comprising a variable pricing menu configured topermit a user of the dispenser to select predetermined quantities ofpurchased product based at least in part on a variable price based oncaloric content purchased product.
 21. The system of claim 18, whereinthe product dispenser is further configured to discontinue dispensing ofproduct once a predetermined total caloric content limit has been met.